Wetherby School is to pre-preps what Gieves & Hawkes is to Savile Row tailoring or the Ivy is to restaurants — once old-money English. Exclusive and expensive establishments, yes, but quietly so. Now, they are global brands, to be rolled out and marketed to the international elite, whether they be in Geneva, London or Dubai.
Wetherby’s claim to fame was Princess Diana sending Princes William and Harry there, fresh-faced in oversized grey blazers, caps with red piping and Start-Rite T-bar shoes. It cemented its reputation as the Eton of pre-preps and soon Victoria Beckham, Elle Macpherson, hedge-funders and shipping magnates scrambled to get their children on the waiting list of this small Notting Hill establishment.
